Alias: The Doyen Series book 1

(18) CHANGE OF EVENTS

PICTURE: New Orleans French Quarter at night. Isn't she beautiful? (Sorry, I'm kind of obsessed even though I am from the Greater New Orleans Area)

It is dark out.

1 look at my phone tells me that it is 8:29 p.m. Kayde is driving us back into the Quarter to his apartment to drop off his car. I told him that he could just bring me to the Whitlen home, but he claims that it "isn't chivalrous enough"—whatever that means.

I am unsure of what our plans are for tomorrow. I have class at 12 and it is the week before finals. But with the witches already attacking and an impending war ahead, I know that my father will not like the idea of me leaving the city. But I cannot stop my entire life to fight supernatural beings and surely he understands that. I also have a job to think about, even if I hate it with every fiber of my being.

I should visit my parents some time too. If there is even a slight chance that I am going to die, I want to see them 1 more time. I will even bring Kayde to meet them if that is what it takes. Not that I do not want them to meet Kayde—I do—but I am super nervous about it.

We arrive at the Rhys' brother's apartment and pull in the garage. He escorts me out of the car and outside onto the street.

"Are you okay?" he asks, stopping me with a hand on my shoulder. His eyes examine me for any signs of sickness. I was oddly quiet on the ride here.

"Yeah," I say unsurely. I have been feeling weird and fuzzy since I woke up from my short nap at the park. And it did not help that my head feels as if it is going to implode. "I think I just need to sleep," I say as we start walking again.

He doesn't seem content with my answer, but keeps on anyway. We walk in silence hand in hand down Conti street until we reach Orleans and take a right.

A few blocks from the home, I begin to get a weird feeling.

I hear a child crying. Looking around, I cannot find her, but I can overhear her mother trying to console her. "Do you hear that?" I ask Kayde, making him look at me funny. "The child crying. Do you hear that?"

His eyes grow wide. "I can. How can you?" he looks around. "She's blocks away," he says shaking his head "you shouldn't hear that."

But I am not listening. I am walking to the source of the cries. Taking a right on Bourbon street, I walk all the way to Dumaine.

There, standing in front of a small restaurant, is a red headed girl with pigtails. Her mother holds her to her shoulder, patting her back.

"It's okay, Darla. It's just a scratch. You'll live," she coos. When she turns around, I see that her knee is skinned up. Blood is seeping through, only a little, but enough for me to see from across the street.

The smell of metal hits me like a ton of bricks. I feel a pull to move and I head towards the little girl.

My brain is taking a backseat and my senses are piloting my body.

There is a tingling sensation in my hands, urging me forward. The little girl is stabbing at my heart, begging me to end her hurt. I feel my hand reach forward and I notice that I have the same hot feeling that I did when the witches attacked me.

I want to help Pigtails so badly.

Kayde whips a hand around my body and spins me around to face him so quickly I think I may have whiplash. He is full of worry and I can see my reflection in his sunshades that still hang on his shirt.

I notice 2 glowing yellow orbs, shiny and bright and all-encompassing like the sun.

Except the orbs aren't orbs at all, but eyes.